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Rev. Meg A. Riley, Director UUA Washington Office for Faith in Action Kwanzaa and Me: A Teacher's Story by Vivian Gussin Paley Harvard University Press, 1995 ISBN 0-674-50586-7, 140 pages Description: Kwanzaa and Me is written by a white kindergarten teacher who has taught in and been committed all her life to integrated, though primarily white, schools. Late in her career, she is startled to learn that this experience has been difficult for non-white children in her classroom. This realization leads her to talk directly and honestly with non-white parents, colleagues, and children about their experiences in integrated schools and to make some changes in her classroom practice. Paley's story begins with the visit of a former student, now in college. Sonya, a young African American woman, was featured in one of Paley's first books, entitled White Teacher, written in 1975. In that book, Paley perceives and describes Sonya as happy and secure in the mostly white 1970s kindergarten classroom. Now Sonya confides that she frequently felt dumb and ugly. She says that she felt she "was walking on eggshells the whole time." Paley is deeply shaken by her own oblivion to Sonya's experience of the classroom. Thus begins her journey of exploration about race and culture in her classroom and in her school. Like all of Paley's books, Kwanzaa and Me is largely constructed of verbatim accounts of conversations and experiences in the classroom. Paley's journey leads an African American colleague to conclude, "It's all about dialogue, isn't it? Teachers can read your book and see that they can sit down and talk to each other and to the parents. Parents can read the book and see that it is a good thing to talk to the teachers. You are encouraging the dialogue, not necessarily the answers, but the dialogue. This points to the need for more people of color in the schools. So there can be the dialogue." The values of Paley's book are threefold. First, as noted above, it encourages dialogue about race and culture in collegial, teacher/child, and teacher/parent relationships. Second, it provides a courageous, imperfect, honest role model of a white person who asks honest questions about the experience of people of color and really listens to their answers. Finally, it provides practical, specific information for white readers about the real need to incorporate many cultures and races into classroom curriculum. A short and easy read, it would be a good book to read as part of teacher training about the multi-cultural classroom. About the author: Vivian Gussin Paley taught kindergarten for many years at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. She is the author of many books, including You Can't Say You Can't Play, Wally's Stories, and most recently, The Kindness of Children. She received a Macarthur ("genius") grant for her pioneering work with storytelling as a classroom teaching method. (Writer's note: I personally agree that she is a genius in this regard and recommend that every religious educator read all of her books.) Reflection and Discussion Questions:
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